Hyde on Alberto, Iglesias, Urías, Davis and Harvey

Catcher Chance Sisco has hit in every spot in the order except first during his major league career.

There's a first time for everything.

Sisco is leading off tonight as the Orioles continue their series against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

Manager Brandon Hyde needed a replacement for Hanser Alberto, who's healthy but getting a breather. Sisco has a .474 on-base percentage and the team doesn't carry a prototypical leadoff hitter on the active roster.

Makes sense to try it.

Cedric Mullins comes close to fitting the description based on his speed and ability to steal bases, but he's 3-for-18 this season.

Alberto is hitless in his last nine at-bats and manager Brandon Hyde wanted to find the right opportunity to sit him.

"He hasn't had a day off at all," Hyde said, "and I felt like today was a good day."

Hyde wasn't searching for ways to elevate Sisco in the order.

"It's not really about that," Hyde said. "It's more watching Alberto play the last couple games, I just felt like I've been running him into the ground a little bit. I told him to show up as late as possible today and take it easy. He's been playing so hard for us and playing well.

"Everybody needs a reset, everybody needs a little bit of a breather once in a while and he hasn't had one, and so today was a good day for him to just relax and maybe pinch-hit late for us."

Hyde wrote out the lineup before Sisco arrived at the ballpark.

It's also missing José Iglesias, who's on the 10-day injured list with a strained left quadriceps muscle. The move is retroactive to Sunday.

"More discussions about it again this morning," Hyde said. "We feel like just giving him some extra days will benefit him and us the rest of the season. The quad is improving, but with the off-day on the 24th, that's an extra day to have there on the IL. We just felt like it was the right thing to do.

"We need him to play shortstop and play shortstop for us down the stretch and so putting him on now possibly saves us some time having to put him on later. We just want the leg to get better is the bottom line. He's a big part of our lineup. He's been instrumental in so many of our rallies and success that we had the first couple weeks of the season. We'd like to get him back to feeling that way, and he really hasn't been right since that first series in Boston, so we're just trying to give him a breather and hopefully he'll be back when 10 days are up."

Ramón Urías has replaced Iglesias on the 28-man roster. Hyde received the latest reports on him via minor league managers Gary Kendall and Buck Britton at the alternate camp site in Bowie.

"They think he can play both (infield) spots in the middle," Hyde said. "They did say today they feel like he can play the outfield in a pinch. He's an athletic guy. He's primarily a second baseman with the ability to play shortstop also. So just adds some flexibility for us in the middle of the field."

Andrew Velazquez gets the start at shortstop again tonight. He's also a backup center fielder who can move to the corners, the versatility making him a keeper on the opening day roster.

"I'm going to be mixing and matching, but Drew played an unbelievable shortstop last night. Really had a nice game defensively," Hyde said.

"I'm comfortable with him and (Pat) Valaika at shortstop and I'm comfortable with Velazquez and Mullins in center field. So I'm just probably going to do it on matchups with the starting pitcher."

Chris Davis has made only one appearance in the lineup since Wednesday and he's sitting again tonight against a right-hander. The roster changes could create an opportunity for him to play more as Hyde shifts players to various positions and roles.

"Yeah, possibly," Hyde said. "Today, Chance is going to DH, Noonie (Renato Núñez) is at first base and Sevie (Pedro Severino) is catching, so I'd like to see the three of those guys continue to get some more at-bats. That's the reason why the lineup is made out the way it is."

Asked if Davis is doing specific pregame work, Hyde replied, "Just doing the normal pregame routine and batting practice."

Reliever Hunter Harvey is throwing at the alternate camp site while recovering from elbow soreness and could join the Orioles on their seven-game road trip that begins next Tuesday at Tropicana Field.

"If everything goes well and he's progressing the way he is, I would expect him sometime by the end of the month, so that would be hopefully by this next road trip sometime," Hyde said.

For the Blue Jays
Cavan Biggio RF
Randal Grichuk DH
Travis Shaw 3B
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B
Danny Jansen C
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. LF
Brandon Drury 2B
Anthony Alford CF
Santiago Espinal SS

Nate Pearson RHP